Nuremberg: The Chief Photographer's Story

Special Exhibitby Raymond D'Addario

During World War II, photographer Raymond D'Addario was assigned to the Army Pictorial Service Headquarters in London, where all photographic material for the U.S. Army was processed. At the end of the war, the 26-year old native of Holyoke, MA was one of only a few Army photographers assigned to the International Military Tribune in Nuremberg, Germany. Robert H. Jackson served as the Chief American Prosecutor at the IMT, which tried Herman Goering and other high-ranking Nazis for war crimes.

He was discharged from the Army at the conclusion of the IMT to accept the position of chief photographer in the public information office of General Telford Taylor, chief U.S. Prosecutor for the twelve subsequent war crimes trials held at Nuremberg.

D'Addario shot a great number of black and white photographs, color photographs and movies of the trials. His coverage was outstanding, despite the Tribunal's restrictions against the use of flash bulbs. Notably, he was the first photographer to have pictures of the IMT courtroom produced in full color, in the London "Illustrated," September 1946. A Speed Graphic camera using 4x5 film was employed. Later, as Kodachrome film became available, Leica IIIc was used to make transparencies. D'Addario also shot many photographs of the city of Nuremberg. His pictures have been distributed world-wide, having been published in newspapers, magazines and books.

Mr. D'Addario's account of Nuremberg, it's events and personalities, is unique, revealed by the stirring images see through the lens of his camera.

The following photographs, a representative sample of the whole exhibit, are described in Raymond D'Addario's own words...

What a beautiful picture - what a sad picture. Nuremberg with the walled city. The British Bomber Command dropped 13,807 tons of bombs in a January 1945 night attack, killing 6,369 civilians. Over 350,000 homes were lost. Ninety percent of the city was destroyed.

In my spare time I visited the "old city," - this time with the chief of the dark room. Rebuilding had not taken place, except the cleaning of the streets. Frau Hilda Schanbel reads the times from the movie ads, as well as other entertainments places in and around the city.

A view of the courtroom as seen by the press. The four tables in the foreground are for each of the prosecutorial teams - French, British, Russian and American.

The twenty-one defendants on trial - the leaders of the Third Reich - my best picture - and I took over twenty shorts on a tripod. A long time exposure. Someone was always moving. In the back are English, German, Russian and French translators.

No flash was allowed during court sessions - but at times we were allowed for a short time - here is Rudolf Hess and Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, both staring, but not at me. In the rear sat Baldur von Schirach, with pencil in hand, leader of the German youth translators.

We had plenty of time to set-up our flash equipment. This time it was Albert Speer with his attorneys. He received twenty years at Spandau prison, where he smuggled out his notes on scraps of toilet paper to write three books. He donated part of his proceeds to Jewish organizations.

British prosecutor Sir David Maxwell Frye, with his many papers, makes a point to the Court. He uses earphones, a microphone, and has two bulbs on the podium for the use of the translators - red to stop and yellow to slow down the proceedings.

I spoke to this girl in the courthouse because she spoke English, she was always well dressed, and she posed in my picture to show how the new translation equipment worked. She and her husband come to Nuremberg twice yearly and we still correspond. Her name was Elly Kupfer - now Mrs. Diercky of Antwerp.

Robert Jackson and his son William leave the courtroom, where I took this flash shot. Flash pictures were allowed in the outside area. Note the size of the guard and his white broomstick.